As part of the Forum for Democratic Cooperation, held in Taipei on May 26–28, 2026 as Forum 2000’s first conference in the Indo-Pacific, we continue A Life in Democracy, a series of conversations on persistence, political courage, and the future of open societies. In this edition, we speak with Raymond Powell, founder and director of the SeaLight Maritime Transparency Project and a retired U.S. Air Force officer, whose work focuses on maritime transparency, gray-zone coercion, and the role of public information in defending the rules-based order.
Drawing on decades of experience in government and the military, Raymond reflects on why transparency has become a democratic tool in confronting authoritarian coercion, particularly in the South China Sea. He discusses China’s use of military, paramilitary, political, and information pressure, and highlights the Philippines’ use of assertive transparency to expose coercive behavior and strengthen both domestic and international support. In this conversation, he emphasizes the role of civil society in uncovering influence operations, the importance of public access to information, and the courage democracies need to defend their sovereignty and institutions. Despite becoming a frequent target of Chinese state-linked criticism and harassment, Raymond approaches it with humor—and as a sign that transparency is having an impact.
